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For years I read and watched as my neighbors built coops. Being a tall person, I thought how horrible it would be to clean and interact with the birds in such a small and confined space. After I visited about 20 other coops around the neighborhood and beyond, I sketched out this coop.
It took longer than expected to build and cost more than we planned. But according to our county inspector, it's the nicest coop they have ever seen. They even took a picture.
The coop has electricy with lights and heating lamps on timers as well as an old fashioned porch light for the front. We had a webcam, but with all the traffic, it made our internet access horrible, so we took it down. Oh, and yes, the coop has cat-5 cable. The best part of this coop is that our chickens love to lay eggs. And we get at least an egg a day from each of the girls.
It took longer than expected to build and cost more than we planned. But according to our county inspector, it's the nicest coop they have ever seen. They even took a picture.
The coop has electricy with lights and heating lamps on timers as well as an old fashioned porch light for the front. We had a webcam, but with all the traffic, it made our internet access horrible, so we took it down. Oh, and yes, the coop has cat-5 cable. The best part of this coop is that our chickens love to lay eggs. And we get at least an egg a day from each of the girls.
This one looks amazing and I agree... much nicer than stooping down to clean!
I know, people have said this before, but excellent job!
the ordinances for very many city's and towns include chickens as well as dogs and cats. it's a very fascinating thought, chickens as pets. I guess if a person had no other place to keep them, they could keep a couple in an indoor cage like toucans or large parrots. "mommy want an.... EGG?"
I would love to see another instructable from you on the care of your girls. :)
Maybe these lovely images and some great tips from you will convince him that keeping a few chickens is a great idea?
My husband has just finished making one for me and although it has pine instead of cedar we put a lot more into this then any of the ones we've seen. Couldn't stand the idea of my poor birds being uncomfortable...lol
Just a couple questions; Is it OK to have a cement floor? I took the cement out in favor of the dirt thinking it was "better" for the birds but I'd really like to clean the cement floor.
The other question I had was the square footage of your building...NO PLANS wanted or needed...just how long and wide? And how many girls do you accommodate?
This was definately a passion project. Of course, I spent more time, marerials and effort than most do on a chicken coop, but that's just me. Many have asked for plans, but I did not use anything more than a few hand drawn sketches and doodles in Adobe Illustrator. Unfortunately, I do not have any plans to share. But I have asked an architect friend to help put something together.
My goal was to make a home for my girls. Owning any animal requires responsibilty, care and kindness. This coop has definately made it something enjoyable to do. The chores are no longer chores, but fun.
Thanks again for viewing my project.
You might want to consider incorporating some rain barrels for watering the lawn in your design in the future. (since it rains so much)
There are plenty of instructables on rain barrels of various kinds.
Even ones to use the water for drinking - maybe even for the chickens.
On a side note - I had just watched the movie Food Inc a couple days ago and one of the main topics they talk about are chickens.
Polyface farms had a lot to say about the correct way to raise farm animals - including chickens - heck farming in general.
They seem to be on the forefront and well respected in the field. I was sold on them anyway.
and the final question.... so pray tell, were are the plans for those of us that would like to build something similiar? ;0)
can't buiild something that nice with out plans - or did you?
It's fun to see them jump for berries! Look at the second photo with the six window opening. The berries are just starting to grow and the tree is on the left. You can see that I covered the gutters with cedar as well as the down spout on the left.
This was built with a sketch that I drew then finsihed in Adobe Illustrator. It was a compilation of my research and visiting 20+ other coops in my neighborhood, online and beyond. I did not copy any coop direcly or use any one else's plans.
Dare I say, free form. Thanks for your comments. My favorite part of the coop is the light on the outside -- I'm a craftsman fan. It actually matches the house pretty well too!
Also - just a thought now - you can put rain barrels under ground. It would be a lot of work - may be not worth it to you i don't know. But you could have a large one underground - the small wooden one (if you choose to use one) in the corner which actually flowed into the larger one hiding all surface plumbing or even housing a pump or something.
and here are a couple that may match and be large enough -
Square wooden 70gal
Round wooden
A slim Tall round one
Of course these are just thoughts.
It looks great as it is for sure.
Agreed - the light is a great add. Looks perfect on it.
Great job for the lack of set of plans. and well thought out - for all conserned.
Didn't know chickens liked raspberries - they sound happy.
Have you noticed a difference in the taste of store bought eggs to the ones your hens produce?
sorry if i'm asking too many questions - all we have here is concrete - they bulldozed all the trees down and put up token Palm trees as replacement.
We were once known as the tree city of Florida - then they developed it all - now - it's just hot tar and concrete
so country style stuff is interesting to me anyway.
And you seemed to add a little pizzaz style to the country style look ;0)
hmmm... I wonder if your chickens would mind a room mate... looking it over - it looks better than my place adn half the residencies around here now..
Yes, the eggs taste richer. The yolks are darker and the shells are stronger and harder to break. I went to an adult field day once with an egg toss event. I brought one of my girls eggs. We won the contest. ;)
I've never been to Florida, but it sounds like a wonderful place. I've always wanted to go and see it. All cities are really becoming conrete palaces, it's not just Florida.
Thanks again for your kind words!
Beach areas are destroyed - reefs mostly gone - water turning like northern waters - not crystal blue anymore or turquoise like it use to be.
but if visiting most now would advise it's best to visit more above the southern tri-county areas now. or over on the west side.
Middle florida maybe
if you ventuer down this way - well - don't say we didn't warn you.
Its not what you think it is anymore. - not like the pictures or postcards at all.
Most are trying to leave Florida - not come here.
anyhow thanks for the replies
- congrats on that egg toss contest.
I chose to show a photo of something cool I built. Sorry that it isn't a step-by-step instruction -- but not being an architect or licensed contractor, I didn't feel comfortable providing plans of my little creation. Liability wise, it's not something I feel comfortable with.
As my project was custom for my location -- I had to dig drenches between the coop and my house for electricity, etc. I was a bit worried about me not being a licensed electrician giving others advice on installing electrical service in their coop.
Thanks again for checking out my project! The one project you posted is great with step-by-step instructions.
Wow, that is truly beautiful! It's much nicer than the first place i lived out of college mind you... thanks for a great instructable!
mind telling us a ballpark total cost?
I'd like to think that my great design makes it look really so expensive.
http://www.aracnet.com/~seagull/faq/whynotcedar.html
I have a cement floor/slab -- and we'd both agree that it's definately bad for them to eat cement. I use pine for bedding.
PIne shavings/bedding is easy to clean and shows if it needs to be changed. We also use pine shavings in the sleeping/egg laying cabinet too. The interior of the space is made out of untreated pine with a few exceptions -- at places that would not create dust or chips that the girls would eat.
It's definately an important issue that I have thought about. My cats have upper respiratory problems and have caused me to do a lot of research on the subject. For me, the choice of cedar was clear -- it's a wood that holds up in the weather as we live in Oregon. It rains a lot!
Heck, I even put gutters on the coop. Although I chose to hide them with cedar so you can't see them unless you are on the roof.